The Lucky Duck Foundation, along with Feeding San Diego and the Salvation Army, marked a major milestone in their collaborative food rescue/employment program for homeless community members. The program rescued more than 1 million pounds of good food that otherwise would have gone to the landfill while providing job training and employment for people working to overcome homelessness.
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With grant money from the Lucky Duck Foundation, the nonprofit Salvation Army hires residents of its homeless shelter and trains them as food rescue route drivers for nonprofit Feeding San Diego, collecting surplus food from grocery stores and businesses that would otherwise go to waste.
That food is then distributed at Salvation Army’s food pantry to help homeless community members and those on the brink of being homeless. Most of the program participants, roughly several dozen formerly homeless people, have moved on to full-time employment and permanent housing, according to the Lucky Duck Foundation.
The food rescue program, which began in 2020, is one of 25 job-training programs that Lucky Duck has supported in San Diego with more than $3 million in grants over the past 6 years. More than 2,500 people have benefited from the programs either through employment or job training.
The nonprofit Lucky Duck Foundation started supporting the job-training programs because many homeless San Diegans cited employment as a key factor that would end their homelessness. According to an Employment Research Project done at Point Loma Nazarene University that was funded by the nonprofit in 2020, loss of income, unemployment and a lack of affordable housing are fundamental contributors to homelessness. The study states that “In a former survey of unsheltered homeless persons in San Diego, 53% indicated that affordable housing was a key to ending homelessness, but employment or job training rated even higher.”
The job-training programs supported by the Lucky Duck Foundation range from culinary training, food rescue, community beautification and trash pickup to certificate programs in construction, technology and health industries. The programs are geared to homeless community members of all ages from youths to older adults and people who have been incarcerated.
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Some examples include Work for Hope, which helps homeless people overcome addiction and get jobs beautifying city-owned parks in Chula Vista and San Diego College of Continuing Education’s Pathways program, which has more than 75 mostly free certificate and job-training programs, paid internships, transportation and a path to community college.
There are also programs such as HomeAid San Diego‘s Workforce Opportunities for Rebuilding through Knowledge and Skills (“WORKS”) program, which provides technical construction training and job placement, and the Rise Up Industries’ Reentry Program, which helps previously incarcerated and formerly gang-involved people get jobs as machine operators through apprenticeships at the Machine Shop Social Enterprise.
The Lucky Duck Foundation has invested $500,000 in the food rescue program so far, and is giving an additional $250,000 to extend and expand the program.
“Feeding San Diego pegs the valuation of the 1 million pounds of rescued food at $1.9 million. So, a $500,000 investment has rescued 1 million pounds of perfectly viable food valued at $1.9 million while employing roughly 36 people and helping them overcome homelessness while also feeding those who are homeless or on the brink,” said Drew Moser, CEO of the Lucky Duck Foundation.
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